Hope for Death Row Dogs

This is Hope Master. She spends 10 hours every day of her life trying to save animals. She is a rescuer and a rescue facilitator.

I can’t even list all of the dogs that Hope has asked us to rescue, but Maureen’s Hope, Frances, Stargazer, Carter, Cassie and Holly’s recent Borgies are just some of them. But that’s not all, remember Blink, the tiny Border Collie that was adopted yesterday? It was Hope that alerted me that this doing was stuck in a shelter and her time was up. Hope has a way of reaching out to the right folks to save the dogs!

I receive weekly emails from Hope begging me to take dogs that are scheduled to be euthanized. Emails start on Friday, and by Monday, they become more and more urgent.

By Tuesday evening, Hope is frantically arranging transport and must get over 200 emails a day. In some cases, whoever is left unclaimed at the shelter by 7:30 AM every Wednesday morning, is put down. And every Wednesday afternoon, I get another email from Hope informing me of how many were pulled, and how many weren’t. It’s a bitter sweet ritual. (Maureen’s Hope shown)

Right before the Borgies were on their way via transport, I spoke with Hope, and had a few questions. Much to my surprise, this very strong woman broke down. Working on no sleep whatsoever, and trying to keep up with various dogs, various shelters, and thousands of rescue volunteers, Hope was at the end of her rope. I know the feeling very well. But the difference between me and Hope Master, is that she rarely is recognized or is appreciate for what she does. Hopefully, this blog post will change that a little, by introducing her to all of you, and sharing her story and her dreams, we can help her continue her behind-the-scenes rescue efforts. (Frances shown)

Hope is much more than a cross-poster, she follows up on every viable lead. She works hard with rescues to take death row dogs. She donates, sponsors, does anything necessary to facilitate the rescue of an animal.

She is a well-known and successful liaison between various rescue organizations. She plans and organizes major transports from Georgia to Florida, from Georgia to Connecticut, and from North Florida to South Florida. Her transports involve 15- 55 dogs at times. She also transports dogs herself, even her husband transports dogs for her on a regular basis.

Hope won’t hesitate to board dogs so they don’t get killed, and also pays for their medical necessities if necessary. She pays for this out of her own pocket unless she gets donations, but she rarely asks for donations. But let’s face it, without donations, we just can’t keep going. Hope doesn’t have the luxury of collecting adoption fees like I do, which allows me to save the next dog. (Holly’s Borgies shown)

Hope has been saving dogs from Georgia shelters for the past 6 months, however, she has been rescuing dogs for 8 years. She personally spends $500 – $700 on these transports every week. Some people think it’s a waste of money, but she believes if everyone could contribute $15 or $30 to save a dog, it IS worth it.

Just in the past two weeks, Hope has coordinated four paid transports and she’s doing another one today. She has 35 dogs and 5 cats going to rescues in Florida.

There is no doubt in my mind that because of Hope, an average of 100 – 200 dogs are saved every week. Whether it’s just an email, a phone call, or a cross-post, Hope finds ways to get these dogs to safety. But, she needs help. If anyone can donate to her cause, Hope has a paypal account under her email address of hope@hope4dogs.net or you can email her for more information.

Update: Lynne Deal asked several months ago if we can do a website or blog for Hope, but her answer was, she simply does not have the time. She doesn’t even have a spare moment to have a Facebook account. There are just too many emails and phone calls, and not one more task can be squeezed in. Hope really needs a volunteer assistant. Someone that can take the ball and run with it. My offer still stands to assist Hope in anyway I can to spread the word, increase awareness, increase funding, and ultimately SAVE MORE DOGS!

While writing this blog post, I just got an email from Hope to help save 35 animals from Floyd County Animal Control. It just never stops. So, I decided to do what I do, I started her blog page! We just need to find someone to help her keep it up! Check it out! http://hopemaster.blogspot.com

~Gisele